Michael Avanzi, our new General Manager, has been on board for about three months now. And we wanted to give you, our customers, the chance to get to know him a bit better. See below for a Q&A with Michael – favorite things about our community, expertise and knowledge, the future of KU, and more!
What is your favorite thing about the community/KU thus far?
My favorite aspect of the community so far is the people. Whether it be at work, at my kid’s school, our neighborhood or out at community functions, everywhere we go the people are super nice and welcoming. Moving across the country can be a stressful thing especially when you don’t have any friends or family in the area. Just in the short 3 months that we’ve been here we feel like this is our home thanks to the hospitality of those we’ve interacted with.
What have you found most interesting and/or surprising about KU?
Kaukauna is the smallest city by far that my family and I have ever lived in but it doesn’t have a small city feel due to the proximity to Appleton, Green Bay and other towns and villages. We don’t have to deal with the traffic like we did in Colorado Springs or in Memphis yet all the conveniences of the big cities are within a 20-minute drive.
What do you want our customers to know about you?
I would like our customers to know that I am committed to working in partnership with Mayor Penterman and other community leaders to make the Fox Cities the best area to live and work in the United States. I believe that the utility has a major role to play in the quality of life of the community and its citizens and we will do everything we can at KU to make it better.
What expertise/knowledge are you bringing to KU?
I bring about 18 years of experience from the utility industry all of which has been in public power. My background is in Electrical Engineering, but I bring experience in water and gas as well as electrical. I worked for two much larger utilities prior to KU which exposed me to a lot of what is going on in the industry in other parts of the country. While Wisconsin may be very different geographically from where I’ve lived, we are dealing with many of the same challenges that the rest of the utility industry faces in the near future.
What are your hobbies/passions outside of work?
When not working, I really enjoy spending time with my family. I have an amazingly supportive wife of 10 years and 4-year-old boy and girl twins. We enjoy taking them to sporting events at the YMCA, watching movies and going to the playground. I also enjoy playing golf when I have time and I’m a huge sports fan of the NFL and NBA.
What are your plans for the future of KU?
I see KU as a future national leader among public power utilities. While I’ve worked for much larger utilities prior to KU, bigger is not always better. I believe that we have a golden opportunity to do even more amazing things here than at my prior organizations. We are already looked at as a leader among public power utilities in the state of Wisconsin and I believe we have the ability to be one of the best utilities in the nation – helping to lead the industry transformation that will occur over the next 10 years. There will be lots of changes in our industry but we must never lose focus of our core principles – safety first, excellent reliability and competitive costs for our services.
